Legislation Passed Today to Prevent Caps and Cuts for 2 Months

December 23, 2011: The House of Representatives passed legislation today to extend the payroll tax break, fee schedule update, rural payment update, therapy cap exception extension, and other end of the year provisions. The Senate also passed the measure this morning and it was signed by the President this afternoon. This will prevent the 27.4% fee schedule reduction on January 1, 2012, maintain the 1.0 GPCI floor on rural payments, and provide for a continuation of the exceptions process to the $1,880 therapy cap until February 29, 2012.

When Congress returns next year, attention will turn to the conference committee assigned to hammer out a deal between the two chambers to prevent these cuts and caps effective March 1, 2012. But the differences remain large over how to pay for the deal. The profession must continue to remain vigilant to prevent this from happening next year.

If you're not currently part of APTA's Grassroots Network, PTeam, sign up today. PTeam will be the main source of information for legislative updates and breaking news on the effort to pass legislation to extend the therapy cap exceptions process.